Split Trading Desks, Clorox May Follow Banks’ Travel Bans

  • Veteran adviser offers snapshot of what financial firms plan
  • Move seats further apart, shut gyms, open rooms for sick staff
Foreign currency dealers wearing protective masks work in Seoul.Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Big banks around the world are rushing to ensure they can keep Wall Street humming through a coronavirus pandemic. The travel curbs have begun -- the next steps will upend daily life on trading desks.

Firms are prepping plans that include: Activating backup sites and splitting up teams, so if an outbreak hits one office, their colleagues can continue elsewhere. Sanitizing every surface hourly -- from traders’ desks and phones to the elevator buttons. Shutting company gyms and maybe cafeterias. Designating rooms to send sickened staff until an ambulance arrives.